Apparatus for making pile fabrics



March 28, 1961 c. OKMA ET AL 2,976,839

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 29, 1955 |NVENTOR5 Clarence fl fma flex try Udes Edwin fiofldkue W J'QMA ATTORNEY nited States Patent ice APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Clarence Okma, Prospect Park, Henry Udes, Paterson, and Edwin L. Donahue, Hawthorne, N.J., assignors, by mesne assignments, to D. & S. Processing Company, Inc., Clifton, N..l., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 29, 1955, Ser. No. 531,142 1 Claim. (Cl. 118-624) electrostatic apparatus or by mechanical means such as heaters. The present invention is an improvement upon known apparatus and produces a pile-surfaced material having a greater evenness in the flock distribution and a deeper penetration of the flock into the adhesive coating on the flexible base material.

The apparatus is designed to operate with a downward falling flock, so that the flock is implanted into the adhesive by the combined action of the electrostatic and the gravity fields. The electrostatic apparatus is also adapted for combination with mechanical flocking heaters to provide a combined electrostatic mechanical flocking machine.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved flocking apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic flocking means which produces a pilesurfaced material with extreme evenness of distribution and great depth of penetration of flock fibers.

Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for the flocking of a flexible web material at high speed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus in which all the fibers forming the pile surface are oriented perpendicularly to the flexible base material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a flocking apparatus adapted for combined electrostatic and mechanical action.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claim, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification wherein:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view of the flocking device;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic elevational view of an afterbeater for use with the flocking devices of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a heater showing the beating action of a beater rod; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a screen for use with the flocking apparatus of Fig. ;1 and having a flock controlling pattern formed thereon.

A preferred embodiment of the flocking apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 1. In this flocking apparatus, a flock supply and controlling means is used and a beater means is provided in the conveyor means beneath the work bars 70. The base electrode is formed of several discrete 2,976,839 Patented Mar. 28, 1961 plates 71 spacedhorizontally beneath conveyor 76 to allow a beater means, such as beater rod 72, to be mounted therebetween. The beater means may be similar to the rectangular rods 66 of the beater of Fig. 2 or any other suitable beater means. As the flock fibers 74 strike the adhesively coated fabric 75 under the influence of the force of gravity and the electrostatic field between the work bars 70 and the base plates 71, the upward motion of the material 75 caused by the beater rods 72 helps to embed the flock fibers by intermittently moving the fabric toward the downcoming flock fibers to drive the ends of the flock fibers into the adhesive coating on the fabric.

The flock supply and controlling means in the flocking apparatus of Fig. 1 comprises a flock distributing screen 77 above work bars 70, a flock spreader screen 78 above the distributing screen 77 and a perforated flock fiber supply drum 79 above the spreader screen 78. The supply drum 79 is turned by a motor 80 and the flock fibers 81 placed in drum 79 fall through the perforated drum surface to the spreader screen 78. The flock which falls onto screen 78 is distributed across its surface by moving wiper blades 82 mounted on two parallel belts 83 which are turned by end rollers 84. The flock fibers 81 filter through the spreader screen 78 to the distribution screen 77, whose mesh pattern distributes the flock evenly above the work bars 70. The work bars 70 are connected to one side of a high voltage transformer 85 and the base plates 71 are connected to the other side, so that an electric field results therebetween to attract the flock fibers toward the material 75. The distribution screen 77 is preferably vibrated by a vibrator 86 to aid in the passage of the flock fibers therethrough.

The rate of the flock fiber flow through the spreader screen 78 is regulated by superimposing an imperforate pattern on the surface of the screen. Thus, as seen in Fig. 4, a checkerboard pattern 87 may be used to reduce the flow rate of the flock fiber through the screen. The pattern may be formed by suitable tape or painted coatings on the screen. The pattern may be varied as desired to change the flock flow rate or to provide special areas of controlled flock flow. j

A preferred cross section of the work bars 7 0' is shown in Fig. 1. This V shaped cross section or other generally similar upwardly facing channel form of work bars has been found to provide an electric field with the base plates 71, which minimizes flow of the flock fiber directly above the work bars. This prevents a build up of flock on the work bars to cause groundings and short circuiting of the work bars. The few flock fibers which do fall on, the work bars come to rest well within the channel portion of the work bar 70, remote from the other elements of the flock control means. I :p'

The coated material 75 from the flocking device of Fig. 1 is run through the after-beater of Fig. 2. y

A separate drive means,,such as motor 88 and drive belt 89, is provided for the work bar drive pulley 90, so that the beater bars 72 may be controlled separately from the remainder of the apparatus and so that the beater rods need be run only when desired.

Although untreated dry flock may be used in the flocking devices, greatly improved results are obtained with flock having an alkaline coating and also a high moisture content of about 70% water by weight. A suitable alkaline coating is obtained by adding a small amount; i.e., less than 3% of hydrogen peroxide by weight; to the flock. It is believed that the wet flock with the alkaline coating provides a better action due tothe formation of a conductive alkaline surface on the flock fiber. This forms a Faraday shield effective enough to shield each individual flock fiber from the fields of the other individual polarized flock fibers and to thus prevent their Operation The flock is first prepared by subjecting it to an alkaline atmosphere where it is coated with a thinalkaline coating. The flock preferably is next moistened by placing itin a humid atmosphere until it has absorbed from 55 to 80 percent of water by weight per unit of moistened flock.

In the operation of the flocking apparatus of Fig. 1, the coated and moistened flock 81 is placed in the drum 79. Motors 80 and 91 are energized to operate the flock supply and distribution means and the conveyor belt and voltage is applied to the work bars 70 and the base plates 71 by energizing transformer 85. The beater rods 72 are rotated by energizing the motor 88 if combined electrostatic and beater flocking action is utilized. The flock fibers drop from drum 79 to the spreader screen 78 and they are spread across the surface of spreader screen 78 by moving wiper blades 82, which preferably are spaced slightly above the screen. The rate of flock fiber fiow through the spreader screen is controlled, as discussed above, by the form of an imperforate pattern formed on the screen surface. The flock fibers are further distributed by passing through the mesh of distributing screen 77. The flock fibers now enter the field of the work bars 70 and the base plates 71 and are planted into the adhesive on the fabric 75 by the combined electric and gravitational effect.

When the beater rods 72 are rotated, the flock fibers are also planted by the intermittent upward movement of the fabric 75 above the beater rods 72. The fabric 75 on'its upward motion meets the downwardly traveling flock with an additional impact due to its motion and thus causes the flock fibers to be more deeply planted.

When the after-beater of Fig. 2 is used with the flocking machines, the conveyor 60 and the beater rods 66 are set in motion by the energizing of motors 62 and 67. The flock fibers are planted more firmly by the additional beating action of rods 66, as described above.

It will be seen that the present invention provides an improved flocking device in which an electrostatic field is combined with the gravitational field to plant flock fibers on the adhesively coated web. The electric field is vertically oriented and is given a high intensity and uniform strength so that the fibers are both uniformly distributed on the web surface and are deeply implanted in the adhesive coating. Additionally, the flock supply and control are designed for use together with a beater to allow for a combined electrostatic and mechanical flocking action, so that coating may be carried out at web speeds 4 in excess of thirty yards per minute. The vertically oriented electric field results in a vertical planting of the fibers so that a uniformly erect pile surface is formed. The alternating electric field repeatedly raises loose and weakly planted fibers from the web and replants them so that before the Web leaves the area of the flocking means substantially all the flock fibers are planted and all of the adhesive coated area has a uniform fiber coating.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

In an apparatus for the production of a uniform pilesurface on rapidly moving adhesive coated web material having a lower electrode adapted for connection to one terminal of an A.C. voltage source, a plurality of work bar electrodes above and spaced from said lower electrode having upwardly facing channel shape and being adapted for connection to the opposite terminal of the A.C. voltage source whereby adhesive coated material may be passed between said upper and lower electrodes and the electrical field therebetween, with a flock dispensing device mounted above said upper electrodes, a flock distributing mesh screen movably mounted between said dispensing device and said work bar electrodes, a vibrator operatively connected to said distributing screen and a beater bar positioned adjacent said lower electrode to engage and beat the coated material whereby the flock is implanted in the adhesive coating of the material by the combined efiect of gravity and the beater bar and the electric field between said electrodes, the improvement which comprises the combination of a flock spreading and rate of flow controlling means intermediate said dispensing device and said distributing screen including a stationary flock spreader mesh screen mounted intermediate said dispensing device and said electrodes and having a flock flow controlling pattern thereon, wiper means movably mounted for motion across said flock spreader screen, and drive means for said wiper means whereby flock dispensed from said device is spread over and passes through said spreader screen at a controlled rate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,027,308 Schacht Jan. 7, 1936 2,174,328 Meston et al. Sept. 26, 1939 2,218,445 Wintermute Oct. 15, 1940 2,675,330 Schwartz et al. Apr. 13, 1954 2,686,733 Burridge et al. Aug. 17, 1954 2,681,446 Ewing et a1 June 15, 1954 2,742,018 Lindquist Apr. 17, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,082,204 France Dec. 28, 1954 

